Blog: TAPPED

Here’s your daily dose of big government oppression: WASHINGTON — Users of cellphones and other wireless devices who are nearing their monthly limit for voice, text or data services will receive alerts when they are in danger of being charged extra, under an agreement reached by carriers and the Federal Communications Commission… A 2010 study […]

David Dayen objects to the Obama administration’s decision to send 100 American troops as part of an effort to hunt down war criminal Joseph Kony. The action, according to Dayen, “furthers a long, slow decline whereby the President becomes a unitary executive in matters of foreign policy, even though Congress has explicit rights regarding war […]

Over the weekend I had a piece in the Los Angeles Times arguing that there’s something wrong with the fact that candidates who grew up in small towns tout their roots, but those who grew up in the cities or suburbs — where most Americans actually live — never do. Here’s an excerpt: What exactly […]

I’m not even sure what to say about this, from Jonathan Alter. Apparently, the hot rumor is that the Obama administration is considering having Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden switch jobs late in the 2012 campaign if things are looking dire: Biden would reluctantly agree because his consolation prize is a job he can truthfully […]

Via Kevin Drum, The Economist‘s Robert Lane Green offers what sounds like a perfect summation of what has happened to Rick Perry: But success as governor often breeds two things: confidence and higher ambition. So if you’re like Mr Perry, you run for the presidency (like everyone wants you to do). But if your background […]

There’s a part of me that wonders whether it’s worth expending time and energy explaining just how shallow and uninformed Herman Cain is, since he is most assuredly not going to be the Republican nominee for president. But at the moment he’s actually leading the polls, so I guess we have no choice. To wit, […]

The House of Representatives is right now taking up H.R. 358, the Protect Life Act — a bill proposed by anti-abortion stalwart Representative Joe Pitts, a Republican from Pennsylvania, that would allow hospitals to refuse to perform an abortion, even when the life of the mother is at stake. Currently, hospitals that generally do not […]

Had you asked Mitt Romney a year ago how he would have liked the pre-primary period of the 2012 presidential election to play out, he probably would have said something like this: First, I’d like to be widely assumed to be the inevitable nominee. Then, I’d like to have a series of candidates emerge, capture […]

As I watched last night’s debate, it struck me, not for the first time, that Mitt Romney is really, really articulate. He’s not particularly eloquent — his words aren’t going to move you to tears — but he speaks in full sentences, at times even in full paragraphs. He rarely stumbles, or gets halfway into […]

As I wrote yesterday, 2010 has been a rough year for voting-rights advocates. Under the guise of fighting voter fraud, Republicans have exploited their new legislative majorities in the states to pass a slew of bills that will restrict access to the ballot. But with all the doom and gloom, there are bright spots. Late […]